1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to barrier means, and particularly barrier means which are capable of being moved between an erect condition and a substantially folded condition.
Although the following description refers almost exclusively to barrier means in the form of a child safety gate, it will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the barrier means could be used in any suitable doorway or frame defining an opening which is to be selectively closed to act as a barrier against any suitable object, force, person, animal and/or the like.
Conventional child safety gates typically include a rigid outer frame with a plurality of bar members located therebetween to act as a barrier to prevent a person, animal and/or the like from passing the gate without the gate first being opened. In order to allow the gate to be fitted into different sized doorways or frames, the gate can be provided with extension bars which are removably located at one or more ends of the gate to increase or decrease the width of the same. In addition or as an alternative, one or more friction blocks can be provided adjacent the ends of the gate and the friction blocks can be moved relative to the gate using one or more rotatable screws. The friction blocks can be moved into and out of engagement with the doorway or frame to engage or release the gate therefrom. A problem with such conventional gates is that they are relatively large and heavy and are not easy to transport. As such, when a young child or pet is taken to a new house for example, such as a holiday home, there is often no suitable safety gate arranged in a door way in which the animal or child is to have restricted access or exit from.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to overcome the above problem, it is known to provide child safety gates which can be moved between substantially folded and erect conditions. An example of such a child safety gate is disclosed in WO2004/079142. The gate has an outer frame comprising two cross members and two lateral posts with flexible fabric located therebetween. The ends of the cross members joining the ends of the lateral posts are hingedly connected. Each of the two lateral posts include two portions which are hingedly connected together at adjacent ends thereof, thereby allowing the lateral posts to fold at a point substantially centrally along the lengths thereof. The hinges of opposite lateral posts are moved towards each other when collapsing the gate, thereby causing the lateral posts to pivot relative to the cross members and move the two opposing cross members towards each other to fold the gate. Each cross member includes two telescopically mounted cross member portions and these portions are slidable relative to each other to allow the width of the gate to be adjusted to fit different sized doorways. In order to lock the telescopically mounted portions in a required position, a pin is provided on the inner portion which is resiliently biased to protrude outwardly from the inner portion. When the pin on the inner portion is aligned with an aperture located on the outer portion, the pin engages in the aperture to lock the frame portions in the required position. In order to release this engagement, a user depresses the pin and moves the frame portions to the required position.